Earning your Stripes and Colours
by NikkitaTheMetahuman
Summary: Set between the 2nd and 3rd KFP movies. The Masters of the Jade Palace are up against a new enemy called Senka. As she arrives, so do a new group of warriors who might be able to help defend the Valley of Peace from her and her followers. But the one thing our heroes don't get is: Why is Senka after Master Tigress? And why does new warrior Teo resent being around her?
1. Introduction

**This is a story that I've thought of doing for a while and I've finally completed the first chapter, Horray for me! It's obviously non-canon, but it's just an idea that came to me. It's set between the events of Kung Fu Panda 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3 and will include characters that have appeared in Legends of Awesomeness. It focuses mainly on Master Tigress and this is something I'd personally like to see in the 4th kung fu panda film.**

* * *

 _24 years ago:_

 _Two hooded tigers are in green robes and outside Bao Gu Orphanage on a rainy night. The taller tiger speaks to the smaller tiger "It's the only way."_

 _"There has to be another." the smaller tiger says, desperate to not go through with their plan on leaving the small tiger cub in their arms at the orphanage._

 _"There isn't; it's too late for us, but she has a chance." the taller tiger said placing a paw on the other tiger's shoulder and looking down at the baby tiger cub who had just opened her big yellow and red eyes and began cooing at the two bigger tigers looking down at her. She reached her tiny paws up at the one holding her and was met with a bigger version of her paws to hold on to. The tiger holding her smiled at her, but was pulled out of it by the other tiger who moved the paw on the smaller tiger's shoulder down to their back "This will much better for her than the life we're about to be condemned to for most likely the rest of our living days... and that will only depend on if we can escape **her**."_

 _The smaller tiger knew the taller tiger was correct and unwillingly said "You're right." They removed their hoods and then took out a light yellow blanket with a pattern near each end consisting of two light red strpies with blue and yellow inside of them and they wrapped the cub in the blanket before the smaller tiger placed the now silent cub on the doorstep of the orphanage. The smaller tiger said one more thing to the cub who looked as if she was about to wail and cry, but remained silent "Goodbye Tigress; I'll never forget you... and I'm sorry I have to do this to you." The tiger then stood up and began crying and was met with comfort from the taller tiger as they walked away from the cub. When they were out of the cub's eyesight and that of the goat carer who picked her up and brought her inside to her new home, a loud long roar was heard, striking panic into the tigers. The taller one stated "It's Senka! RUN!" The two tigers ceased with walking and ran for it on all fours with a another hooded figure running after them on all fours too; a figure in a hooded dark blue robe with a silver vine with white leaves pattern running in all directions from the centre of the back._

* * *

Present Day:

It is late at night in ancient China and underneath the cold black and blue sky is the light of a fireplace deep in the heart of the bamboo forest and around that fire is the Lin Kuei; a gang of nomadic wolves who were trained from birth to become masters of theft and assassination. Their leader Heilang was easy to recognise from his followers as he was the only one with a metal mask that covered his left eye. None of the others know how he got it, but they speculate sometimes when he is out of earshot. Most believe it was a sacrifice made when he challenged their former leader for power over the Lin Kuei. Others believe it was from a glorious battle he victored from with only one scratch from his opponent. A few believe it was from a training accident when he was a pup. It would forever remain a mystery, but one thing was certain; no one dared to challenge him for the role of leader. He spoke a single word to his followers while staring into the fire "Twice."

"Um... twice sir?" one wolf asked after gaining the courage to do so. Heilang continued "Twice we have fought against the Dragon Warrior and the other masters of the Jade Palace. Twice we have come so close to defeating them... and twice... we have also come... _**SO FAR!**_ " he growled and then hit the wolf who had asked him what he meant by twice in the head so hard, he went rolling into a tree and remained lying there. The rest of the group looked at the unlucky wolf and then back to their leader who continued to growl and then sigh "We need help to take them all down... that's humiliating enough for us to think and speak given that we're supposed to be the Lin Kuei; the masters of theft and assissination, what's even _**more**_ so is no one can help because no one has defeated them."

"You're absolutely right." came a dark feminine voice from the shadows that made the wolves snarl and snap their heads to the east where the voice originated from. A hooded figure in a dark blue robe with a silver vine with white leaves pattern running in all directions from the centre of the back emerged from the dark in a slow walk and then stopped 10 feet away from the circle of nomads. All the Lin Kuei could see past the robe was a white tiger tail flicking about with excitement. Heilang spoke to her "Do you have any idea who we are?"

"I would guess from listening to you for the past 10 minutes that you're the Lin Kuei; masters of theft and assassination." the figure stated unafraid. Heilang's good eye widened then narrowed; no one should be able to listen in on them for more than 2 minutes let alone 10 as he always had 4 of his wolves on lookout. Before he could ask who the hooded figure was, 4 other figures came from behind her in a line. Heilang saw the figures emerging to be his lookouts and grinned at the hooded figure, but his jaw dropped when saw that they were all unconscious and being made to look like they were walking until the 2 figures (1 carrying 2 of the wolves) dropped them to the ground where they lay. Heilang and the other Lin Kuei saw that their attackers were 2 striped hyenas dressed in black tunics with red hems. Heilang growled; he'd deal with the 4 sloppy wolves later but for now, he got into a challenging fighting stance and called to his wolves "CHAIN HAMMERS!"

The wolf subordinates all began to swing their chain hammers, but the figures who had invaded them remained standing still and appeared unthreatened. When the wolves released their hammers, the hyenas got down on one paw in a kneeling position while the hooded figure waited until the ends of the hammers were close enough and one by one, she destroyed them with one stratch each showing a white tiger paw as she did. Before the wolves could overcome their shock, the kneeling hyenas charged towards them on all fours and as if that wasn't bad enough, 20 more hyenas identical to them came from out of the shadows and attacked. His followers couldn't compete, but Heilang was the only one left standing as any hyena who dared to fight him was easily pushed away, countered or punched in the face. He then saw their leader was unguarded and charged at her, but she continued to stand in that same spot.

"Terrible mistake." she said as he was in full charge, but he was met with her pouncing at him and roughly pinning him down. Under the hood, he saw a tiger face with piercing ice-blue coloured pupils and she was baring her teeth and growling at him. He prepared for what he guessed would be the end of his leadership over the Lin Kuei as the sharp pristine teeth came closer to him, but at the last moment, she closed her mouth and slowly rised up and turned her head to his followers. "Your leader is not wrong; like anyone else who threatens the safety of the citizens of the Valley of Peace, you end up being shamefully defeated by the masters of the Jade Palace."

The wolves looked down full of embarrassment with the same thought flowing through their minds; the Qidan warriors, Master Junjie and his snow leopards, Scorpion, even Pang Bing; the Lin Kuei were now apart of the club for those who fight the Jade Palace and seem like they've won, but eventually lose. The hyena leader saw this and continued with her speech "I will say this; of everyone who has faced them, _**you**_ came the closest to defeating them once and for all."

The wolves looked up with surprise and hope filling their eyes. Even Heilang's good eye mimicked that of his followers though he was still cautious when the figure held out her paw to him to help him up and said "And that's why I'd like to propose a temporary truce between the 2 of us."

Heilang allowed her to help him up, but kept his guard and defensive tone up "Why would you want a temporary truce?"

"Well think about it; you've known me for about 5 minutes and you've seen what me and my followers are capable of... and in those 5 minutes, we've been your enemy. Wouldn't you prefer us as allies?"

Heilang thought this over. She wasn't wrong; she and her hyenas were as quick, smart and strong as they were. And she did say "temporary" truce and then they could part ways, so he nodded in agreement "Very well then." She smiled and as the her hyenas released the Lin Kuei, she removed her hood to show that she was indeed a white tiger. Her pupils were ice blue, the 5 stripes on her head were solid black with the first and last 2 looking like long, thin lightning bolts with the 2 on the left being symmetrical to the 2 on the right and the third stripe being half the length of the lightning blots and looking like a tear drop. When her robe came off her body, she was wearing a sleeveless vest that matched her robe (a dark blue background with a silver vine with white leaves pattern) and white pants. She handed her robe to a hyena who came up to her and then walked away once he had her robe. Heilang then asked "Before we continue, who are you and what exactly do you want our help with?"

"The only thing that you need to know about me is that my name is Senka and that I'm on a... mission of sort; to see that someone I care about gets his revenge on a kung fu master who resides at the Jade Palace."

Heilang then sunk, knowing who the kung fu master would be and gave a sarcastic guess "Let me guess, this **'someone you care about'** was wronged by none other than the Dragon Warrior?"

Senka had a cheerful smile aas she said "That is absolutely incorrect."

"Of course I'm...wait, what?" Heilang said with pride at first until he went over what Senka had just said. She then continued with a frown "Both he and I could care less for that panda, so you and your wolves are more than welcome to to do as you please to him. All I ask is you don't harm the one kung fu master I'm after."

Heilang and the Lin Kuei were shocked that she wasn't interested in fighting the Dragon Warrior, but at least this meant she and her followers wouldn't interfere with them eventually defeating all but one apparant master of the Jade Palace. As Senka dismissed her hyenas to head back to their base of operations, Heilang gave the same hand gesture to his wolves so they would follow them. The 2 leaders of the opposing parties were alone and Heilang asked "Why exactly do you want to kill this one kung fu master? What did they do?"

"Oh I wish I could, but I think if anyone's going to kill **Master Tigress,** it'll be her **brother; for** **stealing** his **_glory_**."


	2. The Furious Felines

**The Grey Coincidence: to answer the question in your review: No, Senka was not referring to Tai Lung as Tigress' brother. Although, I understand why you'd guess that. I've seen a lot of fanfictions with Tigress and Tai Lung as foster siblings, but this fanfic is not one of them. More OC's are to come in this fanfic and for a mild spoiler, some characters from Legends of Awesomeness will at some point return.**

 **Anyways, enjoy chapter 2!**

* * *

 _ **"It's the only way."**_

 _ **"There has to be another way."**_

 _ **"There isn't."**_

 _ **"You're right... goodbye Tigress."**_

* * *

Tigress awoke from her sleep and began breathing in and out rapidly but softly. She stopped however when her eyes squinted at the sun's bright, penetrating rays and she raised a paw to block them out. She tried to work out what that dream was about, but it was slipping from her memory like most dreams do when one awakens from them. She saw 2 tigers and heard the voices of a male and female; one of the voices saying goodbye to her before they both walked away and out of her sight. She tried harder, but let out a "Hrgh" in defeat as that was all she could remember. She decided since she was up, she may as well go and do some stretches in the courtyard before proceeding to the training hall. After getting up and sneaking past the other rooms, she made it to the training yard and began her stretches. She did them in the order she had learned them in from Master Shifu: Quick Head Swing, Arm Circles, Crane Stance with her legs at half past 1, Arm Circles again and then her legs at half past 11 ending with a hop and claw punch. She was thankful that she hadn't been interrupted and walked into the training hall. She walked up to a spinning crocodile dummy and began to work on her attacks and dodges instead of defense.

"Tigress?" came a voice that she recognised. She turned to see Master Shifu come up to her. She bowed in respect to him "Master Shifu."

"What are you doing training this early in the morning, don't you usually mediate in your room at this time?"

"I do." Tigress said, before sitting down in a lotus position to talk properly to her master "But last night, I had a dream."

"What of?"

"Well, I'm not sure Master. I remember seeing 2 tigers and one of them said goodbye to me before they walked away. I tried to remember, but it slipped... and I thought since I was up, I may as well do something."

Shifu brought his hand down his goatee as he was thinking "Hmm, I remember Po telling me during his time with Lord Shen's former soothsayer, she mentioned that his dreams weren't dreams. Instead, they were memories."

"So, you think what I saw was a memory?" She then thoguht over and realization came to mind "That would make sense if it's the memory of when my parents abandoned me at Bao Gu Orphanage. But why would it come up now all of a sudden?"

"I don't know; the universe works in mysterious ways Tigress and it has, according to Master Oogway, a funny sense of humour. And all we need to do is trust in it no matter how good or bad things may seem."

Tigress then stood up from her lotus sitting position and bowed to Shifu "Thank you Master, for your words of wisdom." She then left her master and headed to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Then, she would be able to truely think on what her master had just said. When she arrived, Po and the rest of the furious 5 were already there and as she got her usual stir fry tofu, Po gave her his usual morning greeting "Good Morning! How ya doing Tigress?" The rest of the furious 5 said "Good morning" too. She simply said "I'm fine." and sat down hoping they'd stop chatting with her. But of course Po wouldn't do that "So here's a question for the great Master Tigress, how come _I_ was the first one to the kitchen this morning and you came in _dead last_?"

"Because I'm not the one around here with the biggest stomach." she said wanting this to end as quickly as possible and because she didn't want the others knowing about her dream.

"She's not wrong Po." Mantis said at the dumpling bowl.

"Come on Tigress, Po's not wrong. You're always here first." Monkey said agreeing with his best friend.

"I... wasn't hungry when I woke up and I felt like doing some mild training."

"Come onnn! You're Master Tigress! You're so dedicated to Kung Fu that you don't even need any type of training!"

Tigress just sighed at Po's enthusiasm and finished her tofu. As she was about to head back to her room for peaceful meditation, Zeng the mesenger came rushing in panting "Huh! Huh! Message from the Valley of Peace!" he said throwing the scroll forward to the floor and then flopped down belly first on to the floor. Viper slithered to the message and read it "Wolf bandits are raiding the citizens of the valley!"

"At this time?!" Po exclaimed. "I haven't even finished breakfast!" he continued whining like a child. Tigress took charge and commanded the warriors "Let's go."

The Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior (after heading back a few times to the kitchen to finish off the remaining dumplings) rushed down to the valley to see the errupting chaos. They saw wolves robbing the citizens running and screaming and then after they shook out the valuables of unlucky citizens whowere being shaken upside down and the thrown to the ground, they all headed for the same location; the bamboo forest. Tigress continued leading "Crane, Viper, Mantis, take to the sky and head them off. We'll follow from behind and we'll be able to surround them."

Mantis jumped on Crane's back as he grabbed Viper in his talons and flew into the bamboo forest after the pack of thieves. Tigress, Po and Monkey chased after them on foot unaware of what fate had in store for them.

* * *

The wolves raced through the forest zig-zagging past the many bamboos, but were forced to stop when Crane launched Viper ahead of them and then landed. Mantis jumped off his shoulder and raced to them as they drew out their chain hammers. Mantis was able to dodge them as they landed one at a time. He jumped on the chain of one and charged at the wolf at full speed. As they thought, more wolves appeared and surrounded them. After knocking out one wolf, Mantis regrouped with them. As the wolves closed in, reinforcements came in just in time, one of them shouting "All rights wolves, time for you to see what happens when you terrorize the Valley of Peace before the Dragon Warrior can even have breakfast. WAH HAAA!"

Po jumped towards them and grabbed 2 wolves and threw them at the circle. He and the Furious 5 then took advantage of their sudden unawareness and atacked them with full strength. Within seconds, the wolves dropped the stloen valuables and ran off.

"Yeah, you better run!" Po exclaimed to the wolves and then he and Monkey high fived. They were joined by Viper, Mantis and Crane celebrating their victory. Tigress however remained on guard. Something wasn't right. That fight was too easy and harldy lasted 10 seconds. And something about the wolf bandits seemed familiar. But what?

Then, a howl came from behind them. They turned to see a lone wolf howling and when he brought his head down to face them, they recognised him.

"Heilang." Tigress said bearing her teeth and getting into her fighting stance along with the others. But Heilang was only a distraction as a number of similar laughters surrounded them, but the kung fu masters couldn't pin point where it was coming from. Then, it became a battle shriek and 10 hyenas in black robes with red hems appeared in a line that separated Tigress from her fellow warriors. 3 vicious faces with fire-filled eyes and baring sharp teeth snarled at the lone warrior while the remaining 7 kept the rest at bay. The 3 hyenas then attacked Tigress. She blocked their attacks, but then afer a few blocked punches from each of them, they began to chomp their jaws any part of her body from her legs to her head o her neck. She narrowly avoided them, but lost balance on the last one and a hyena 180-kicked her in betweenthe stomach and chest and sent her flying and she landed with a "Uhh!"

"Tigress!" Po shouted in concern for his friend. He and the others wanted to help, but the 7 remaining hyenas held their ground and acted as a wall to prevent them from geting to Tigress who was clutching where the hyena's kick had landed and couldn't find the will or strength to get up. The same hyena charged with a battle shriek at her, readying to deliver the final blow. All the masters could do was watch helplessly as they tried to fight past but were blocked by chomping jaws.

As Tigress saw the charging hyena, she bravely kept her eyes open and prepared for the end, but it never came. A hooded figure appeared from above and landed on all 4's between Tigress and the hyena and it remained that way. The hyena was curious and tried to look under the hood "What the-"

The figure nodded his head upwards and the hood came off.

"IT'S TEO!" The hyena exclaimed before he was met with a loud powerful roar that sent him flying into the air and far away into the bamboo forest. The wall of 7 were now the fearful ones and ran away, allowing Po, Crane, Viper, Monkey and Mantis to get to Tigress.

"Tigress, are you okay?" Poasked lending her a paw up.

"I'm fine." Tigress coughed still clutching the area of pain "What happened, who was that?"

"Hopefully, it's friends and not foes." Viper said.

The 2 remaining hyenas went to attack the kung fu masters, but were halted in their path by 4 figures jumping down from the bamboo tops; a male lion in dark red pants and an indentical dark red short-sleeved leotard, a female lion with light red pants and an indentical light red vest with vertical black lines on the left side curving near the top to look like long grass swishing in a breeze , a female snow leopard with in a light blue short-sleeved tunic and a female cheetah in a green sleeveless tunic with yellow wheat around the bottom half. The male lion spoke to them "If we were you..."

"...We'd run away while we still have all our limbs." the female lion finshed for him.

They didn't listen and attacked. The 4 felines only smiled with excite. The 2 lions fought one hyena while the snow leopard and cheetah were joined by the figure named Teo to fight the other. The 2 lions pushed the hyena back and forth to each other until Teo seperated himself from his group and called to the male lion "Leo!"

The lion called Leo used a 180 air kick to knock the hyena into Teo's path. He then grabbed him while bending down and then jumped up and threw in high in the air "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" went the hyena.

Meanwhile, the cheetah and snow leopard blocked the attacks of the hyena. When he pushed her back, the cheetah ran around him in lightning speed and to the kung fu masters, it looked like a short hurricane.

"WOOAH!" Po went as he watched with his fanboy smile. Even the furious 5 had to admit for a fighting style that wasn't kung fu, it was clearly useful for fighting hyenas. The hyena looked dizzy from attempting to keep his gaze on the running cheetah. Finally, he shut his eyes to try and clear his mind, but that was just the opportunity the chettah needed. She charged at him and jumped and pushed at his chest with her arms and legs and 3 360 air kicks from the snow leopard was all it took to get him to go after his comrads once he regained balance of his footing.

Once the fighting was over, Po's expression was blank. The 5 cats saw his expression and the snow leopard asked "You okay?"

"That... was... AWESOME!" Po shouted at her face. "You guys were amazing! You were all HIIIYAH! WOOKOW! And BOOYAKASHA!" he said in a poor attempt to mimic their fighting. As Monkey, Viper, Crane and Mantis gathered round to thank them, Tigress remained back thinking that it seemed rather coincidental that these 5 warriors show up out of nowhere. She was so stuck on her thoughts that she didn't notice Heilang pounce at her from behind "AAARGH!" he cried as he went to attack her. The others turned to see this.

"Tigress, watch out!" Po shouted, unaware of Teo's eyes widening considering that they were under his hood. Tigress turned and braced again for a coming attack. However, she was once again saved by a stick thrown at his head. Everyone turned to see the thrower and were not expecting it to be an elderly light orange tiger. She said in a croaky yet sarcastic voice "Hooligan."

He got up and growled in anger at being knocked over by an elderly cat and vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

After they were all certain that no more attackers were coming, they relaxed. Teo called to the elderly tiger "Sorry we left you grandmother."

"I understand grandson; but take the hood off, it's a nice day outside." she said removing the entire hooded robe herself, revealing an orange male tiger with ice blue eyes. He wore a yellow short-sleeved vest wih green bamboos on the left side and black pants. As she took her robe that matched her grandson's vest, she went up to Tigress "Are you okay my dear?"

Tigress was surprised. She had never seen other tigers before in her life. She shook her head to get out of the shock she was in and said "Er yes, I'm fine."

The tigress before didn't seem convniced as Tigress had her arm covering the place where she had been hurt. A wrinkly but furry paw was placed on her arm as the tiger asked "May I see?"

Tigress said nothing, but moved her arm so the elderly cat could feel the area. She said after a quick touch analagy "I recommend you lie down for an hour or so; hyena attacks like the one you suffered can turn deadly if you don't treat them correctly." Tigress nodded. Viper slithered up to them "Thank you for showing up; all of you."

"Yeah, those thieves would've gotten away if you hadn't shown up." Crane added, but Po wasn't accepting that "Whaaaat? Cu-hum on! We're the Dragon Warror and the Furious 5! We would've worked something out."

"Okay fine, next time we think one of you guys is about to be killed in a very gruesome manner, we won't intervene." Teo said with crossed arms.

"Lighten up Teo." came the cheetah who hugged him lovingly.

"So question; who are you guys?" Mantis asked wondering how was no one asking that question at all.

"How rude of us." said the elderly tigress as the female lion handed her the stick she had thrown at Heilang and began using it to support herself as she walked "I'm Gucho; this is Leah." she said gesturing her hand to the lioness and then her stick to the male lion "That's her older brother Leo."

She then gesured to her grandson and the cheetah "This is my grandson Teo and hopefully, my future granddaughter in-law Chi-Chi."

"Gucho, we're just boyfriend and girlfriend for now." Chi-Chi said blushing along with her boyfriend. Gucho saw that the Dragon Warrior became bored, so she spoke his language "I supose you could refer to us as The Furious Felines."

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 **Thank you everyone who read the first chapter. 99 views people! Also, if you recognise Booyakasha from Ali G Indahouse, I'll have you know that Po actually says that in the episode "Kung Fu Daycare"  
Stayed tuned for Chapter 3 and thank you to The Grey Coincidence, RandomTigerGirl and Guest for the reviews!**


	3. Faye's Family History

**This is a response to a 'Guest' review: the furious felines isn't the actual name for my OC's; it was just a nickname Gucho made up so Po would be able to understand her since it's a kiddish name and Po has the mind of a child.**

* * *

While Po was babbling on to Gucho about the "super cool awesome" nickname she had referred to her and her students as instead of helping to carry back the stolen goods back to the Valley of Peace, Tigress thought everything was happening too fast today; she had a strange dream, she had been injured in battle by new foes and when it seemed like she was about to meet her untimely demise, 6 strangers appear out of nowhere and save her life. All this happening in less than a day seemed too suspicious to Tigress and it also seemed strange that the Lin Kuei disappeared after the hyenas showed up as if having been replaced. She then noticied that the snow leopard of the clouder had disappeared, but then relaxed a bit when she saw that she had returned and said "Gucho, I surveyed the area; no sign of anymore hyenas."

Gucho let out a sigh "Good, last thing I want is another encounter with them right now." Gucho then realised that she hadn't been introduced "Oh and this is Faye; the second eldest of the group."

While Po and the rest of the furious 5 waved to shy-smiling Faye, Tigress asked "So where exactly are you guys from?"

All 6 newcomers turned to her with furious shock at her clear distrust. Gucho remained passive and said "Seems like you don't trust us even though we just saved your life moments ago."

"Yeah, you show up _right before_ those hyenas could've attacked me further... it's almost like you knew this would happen and-"

"Lighten up Tigress!" Po interrupted "If they weren't on our side, they wouldn't have fought those hyenas off in the first place."

"You'll have to excuse Tigress." Monkey said, followed by Crane saying "She tends to distrust anybody."

Leo then smugly asked outloud "Are you sure she's not just upset that **_we_** took care of those hyenas and she couldn't?"

"What's that suppose to mean?" Tigress asked.

Leah came up to her "Well no offense or anything, but the 6 of us can take out 20 hyenas individually aaand... you not being able to take out _**3 hyenas on your own**_... it's kinda pathetic and a bit embarrassing."

Viper slithered over to him to defend her friend "Well, that's heardly fair to say; we weren't exactly prepared for their fighting style since we've never encountered hyenas before in China."

"No, you don't get it." Leo said looking down to Viper with Leah at his side "We don't mean 'you' as in 'you kung fu warriors'." He looked and pointed to Tigress "We mean 'you' as in 'you in particular as a tiger' should be able to handle a fight that we call Child's Play."

Tigress was confused. How could just being a tiger be enough to take on those hyenas? Master Shifu had taught her that fighting required constant training and different techniques to be followed to the letter regardless of what type of animal you were. That was clearly proven with Po as well as herself and the rest of the Furious 5; why would this clouder think like this? Before they could continue, Teo came up to the lion siblings "Leo, Leah, both of you just back off."

"Seriously Teo?! You're agreeing with her when you know that we're correct?" Leo asked in a whiny voice. Chi-Chi came over as well to stand by her boyfriend "Yes he is; there are many things that are learned in different ways and fighting is one of them."

Po decided to join in even though Tigress saw no point of him doing so "Yeah like eating for instance; some of us use chopsticks while other use our BEAR Hands!" At saying 'bear hands', Po raised his paws and waved them "Get it?! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Everyone seemed to copy Tigress' unamused face until Leo and Leah couldn't help themselves and finally let out a short laugh. "Okay, that's actually pretty good." Leo said with Leah nodding to that.

Gucho smiled at this "Indeed."

Tigress was annoyed on how she was the only who was being cautious around 6 complete strangers. When they usually meet strangers, it turns out that they have a hidden agenda that is bad for them and the Valley of Peace. The longer this was put off, the worse it would be later. She was starting to lose her calm face when Teo interjected "Getting back to the original topic, I agree with Master Tigress and I think we should say why we are here. Especially since we haven't moved on yet like we usually do."

Tigress was surprised. For once, it seemed like someone truely agreed with her. What surprised her more was how he didn't know why they were where they were right now. She stood by silent as Gucho spoke to him "We didn't say anything because we knew that **_you_** would object to mine and Faye's idea."

Teo's eyes filled with angered realisation "No; we cannot stay here and you know why."

"Come on Teo." Faye said with crossed arms "He could have passed through here; I haven't seen him for 2 years now and I want to find him and make sure he's okay."

"See who?" Tigress asked coming forward with the other Kung Fu warriors gathering up with her.

"My son." Faye stated. Gucho then spoke the answer Tigress was seeking "We're travellers; we've been travelling for years now and recently, we've been looking for Faye's son."

"How come he isn't with you?" Mantis asked from Monkey's shoulder.

Faye explained her story "When I believed he was old enough to hear it, I told him a family secret that I had been keeping from him."

"Ooh ooh ooh, lemme guess what it is!" Po interrupted. Before Faye could even fully raise her finger, he began guessing "You have a family ghost! Your great great grandparents were cursed as kids! No wait, you are somehow related to a rhinoceros! Or how about-"

"PO!" Tigress shouted. Po stopped guessing "Okay, I'm done guessing." He turned away with arms crossed and didn't say anything. Faye said unemotionlessly to him "I'm not even going to ask how you think I could be related to a rhinoceros."

Po was about to speak only for the mysterious workings of deja vu to come in as this time, Faye interrupted him as if she could read his mind "Oh yeah, I suppose one of my relatives could've married one if intermarriage was allowed in our cat culture; which it isn't."

"Why? Does intermarriage mean one of you has to be dead like a zombie? Oh my gosh, being married to a zombie; that sounds so creepy **and** yet so awesome!"

Faye just stared as if she had been paralyzed. Tigress understood why, but her attention was more focused on when the snow leopard said "Cat culture". Tigress wondered what that meant and if she could've been apart of it if her parents hadn't abandoned her for reasons she couldn't understand. She recalled Chi-Chi's words of some things being learnt differently. Perhaps in cat cultures, she wouldn't have been feared by others kids and would've learned to fight hyenas and would have parents who told her that they were proud of her. Her thoughts of an alternative life stopped when Faye said "I told my son that we had another relative in our family; my twin brother."

Po turned back to face the snow leopard. His face was sour "That's it? You have a brother? Not exactly the best family secret I could think off."

Faye's face went angry and a small but long growl came from her closed mouth. Chi-Chi put a paw on her shoulder as she said "Calm down Faye."

Faye did so and the growling ceased. Chi-Chi then turned to face Po "It probably doesn't sound ' _awesome'_ to you because you don't have all the details of the story."

Faye continued after what the cheetah said sank enough into Po "I never knew my twin brother; we were seperated at birth and when I eventually learned about him, it was too late because I found out I'd never get to meet him."

"Why not? What happen to him?" Po asked raising to put a hand on her shoulder only until she grabbed his arm, spun him around and with her free hand, grabbed his index finger in a hold that all 6 Kung Fu masters were familiar with "WOAH! That's the Wuxi Finger Hold!" Mantis shouted.

"Ahhh, don't flex your pinky! DON'T FLEX YOUR PINKY!" Po blabbed out, his last blab sounding like a girl about to wet themself. The Furious 5 were on offense if case she flexed her pinky. Faye then said "You know something Dragon Warrior, I'm surprised you asked that so sincere-sounding given that you 'Skadooshed' MY BROTHER with this very hold."

"WHAT?! How could I have done that?! I've never met your brother and I've only used the Wuxi Finger Hold on is Tai Lung!"

Realisation hit the Furious 5 and Viper said since the Dragon Warrior didn't seem to get that he had just said the now obvious answer "Um Po, I think Tai Lung _is_ Faye's brother."

Po then got it "Ohhh." he said awkwardly and looked back to her as if he were about to cry. Faye still had a stern look on her face. Surprisingly, the other cats didn't seem as panicked. They actually looked bored. Teo finally sighed "Faye, let him go; we both know you're not _really_ going to use it on him."

Faye's yellow eyes glared at Teo for a moment, then back at Po, who closed his eyes and shook slightly in fear that she would flex her smallest finger. Her eyes then went back to normal as she released a calm breath and released his finger "Of course not." she said looking away.

Po stood up and looked at the finger which had escaped the fate that Tai Lung had been given. He laughed nervously before fainting.

"AAHHHHHHHHH!" Mantis shouted in his small rough voice as he was unfortunately too close to Po and was crushed by his bloating stomach "Ugh, not... cool man." he said as he attempted to push Po off him. As Crane helped a dizzy Po get up, Monkey asked Faye "So, Tai Lung is really your brother?"

Faye looked at him "Can you think of a reason why anyone would lie about being related to him?" The Kung Fu warriors didn't argue with that; they couldn't think of a reason. Faye continued speaking "Look, you don't have to worry about me trying to avenge him; I know all too well about Tai Lung and how he abused his power of Kung Fu. I don't blame you for... skadooshing him Dragon Warrior; I just can't help but feel slightly frustrated given that I'll never get to meet him."

Po let out a "Huh."

Faye looked curious "What's the "Huh" for?" she asked mimicking his blank expression and small shoulder shrug.

"Oh er, I was thinking of when I met Tai Lung's nephew Peng-" Po didn't realise it as he continued speaking, but after saying "Peng", Faye and the other cats looked straight at him with widened eyes"- and when he learnt the truth of what happened to Tai Lung, he tried to kill me."

"I'm sorry, Peng?" Faye asked now smiling.

"Yeah." Po said once again oblivious to the obvious "But then he accepted the truth, then he embraced it again with the help of a ruby necklace, then he quit Kung Fu, then-"

"Wait what? Peng does Kung Fu? Since when?" Faye interrupted again.

"Since he came here and he won the Kung Fu contest at the Peace Jubilee; oh my GOD he was incredible for someone who was only potty trained!"

"I think you mean someone whose only training was in pottery." Faye said.

Tigress joined in "Yeah, that's- wait, how did you know that?"

"Are you reading my mind?" Po asked. Faye shook off the stupid question and answered Tigress' question "No... I'm Peng's mother." Even though it was obvious, the 6 Kung Fu Warriors were in shock.

* * *

 **That's right! Peng will be in this fanfic and I've added his past to the story and also extended on Tai Lung's past. In a way, there is a slight chance that this could be canon if you think about it; we know that Peng is Tai Lung's nephew, which means that Tai Lung has at least one sibling and said sibling is Peng's parent. I decided to make the sibling a twin because some twins are separated at birth and that would explain why Faye wasn't brought up (not just because I created her character). We also know that Peng was looking for Tai Lung, but he never said why and this would explain both that and also why he wasn't at first aware that his uncle was famous for almost destroying the Valley of Peace over a blank scroll.  
Now, you're probably wondering this; why were Tai Lung and Faye separated at birth? Why weren't they abandoned together? Well, that will be explained. SPOILER ALERT- the very reason for that plays a crucial part in the story.**

 **Also, thank you to all the new followers; I'm glad you're enjoying only the first 2 chapters and I'm sure you all enjoyed this chapter as well. Hope you enjoy chapter 4 when it's posted.**


	4. An Unnecessary Death

**To all reading this story, I wish you a Happy Halloween and trick or treaty year!"**

 **WARNING: there's a death in this chapter, so be prepared... and don't review saying I didn't warn you...**

* * *

"You're Peng's mom! Oh my gosh, Peng is your son!"

That was all Po could focus on after Faye had told him and the Furious 5 about her blood ties to Tai Lung and Peng. They were all walking back to the Valley of Peace with the stolen valuables (other than Viper due to an absense of arms and legs) and no one seemed to be happy due to Po unnecessarily repeating that the snow leopard they had met along with the other big cats was their friend Peng's mother. The worst part was no one could cover their ears because they were carrying the stolen valuables in their arms. Only Gucho wasn't carrying anything besides her supporting cane, but she chose to not cover her fuzzy ears as it wouldn't be fair to everyone else. Tigress probably felt the most sympathy for Viper. Maybe she could use her coils to snup out the annoyingness of Po's fanboy voice but it just wasn't the same as a pair of hands, paws or even wings.

Gucho then ended the constant noise by saying " **YES.** We all know; we've known since Faye told us less than _**five**_ _**minutes**_ ago."

Po then went silent. Tigress swore the white fur on his face turned red for a brief moment and then she looked to Gucho with a smile. Even though the elderly cat couldn't see her grateful face, she imagined that Gucho could sense it as everyone else seemed to smile in relief.

"Stop." came Gucho's voice that she held her arm up horizontally. Everyone stopped so abruptly that Po almost fell over from balancing on the tip of his toes. Mantis however didn't take the chance of being flattened again and scurried over to where Leo and Leah. Monkey asked as he couldn't sense anything "What is it?"

Gucho's fuzzy ears twitched about and seemed to be listening on something. "THERE!" she cried pointing to some big brown rocks. Nothing happened, but the big cats didn't let their guard down. Tigress somehow trusted Gucho and kept her sight on the rocks, but Po came in front of the elderly cat and said "Okay Gucho, I think your age is starting to make you cuckoo..."

A giant white figure leapt from behind the rocks while Po was still talking and didn't realise.

"... and als- AAAAAAAAAAAH HA!" Po cried with both hands near the top of his head as he finally saw the figure. It looked like a hyena but slightly bigger and with white fur instead of the dark grey. It wore not a black tunic with a red hem, but instead a white tunic with long baggy sleeves and a turquoise hem. As the hyena raised its head, Mantis jumped a little "WOAH THAT'S SCARY!"

What he called scary was seeing 5 little red claw marks going completely over the hyena's closed eyelids. It gave a long inhale through its nose, then said with sharp smiling teeth "Good to know you're there _**Gucho**_. Your elderly stink gives you away." the hyena spoke in a voice that sounded like a dark version of Gucho, whose grandson Teo retaliated "You sure that stink's not coming from _**you**_ Nyrocah?"

The hyena now named Nyrocah growled at the young male tiger while Gucho gave a proud-sounding "Hmph" that made her eyes almost twinkle. The hyena then charged, but Teo and Gucho were quicker and held her back as she snapped her jaw away like a crocodile with a sugar rush. Teo looked back and called to his comrades and the Kung Fu warriors "Head for the Valley of Peace; we'll hold her off!"

They all listened and took off; Po ran with Faye despite it looking more like power walking, Monkey took to the bamboo tops and swung on them while seeming to juggle what he was carrying, Viper slithered alongside a scurrying Mantis and the lion siblings helped Crane as they knew he could get away faster by flying. As he flew above the bamboo tops, a few small coins fell out of his clutches, but Chi-Chi sprang like a spring into action and caught them all. Tigress ran, but wasn't looking where she was going and the left side of her body bumped into a bamboo that made her go "AAH!" as she still had her hyena injury from before.

Nyrocah finally managed to push off the tigers who were grappling on to her by twisting about in their hook-shaped claws with all her strength and then kick them to the ground 10 feet away from her. She was about to charge at them before they could recover when she her ears pricked up an "AAH!" from behind her. It sounded familiar. She inhaled as she slowly turned her head. Tigress looked at her forgetting about the valuables she had dropped. When Nyrocah stopped inhaling, her eyes opened. They were clouded over, but Tigress saw that beneath the clouded surface were glowing red eyes. And... Tigress gasped as something came into her mind...

* * *

 _Tigress looked about to see fires and what was possibly thousands of hyenas in the distance who seemed to be fighting a range of cats from snow leopards and cheetahs to lions and tigers. She felt like she had to run, but couldn't. She was wrapped in a blanket and saw that her paws were tiny and her arms were short. As she looked around to try and call for help, she saw a hyena approaching. A white hyena that looked like Nyrocah only younger. Its eyes were red and glowing and it came up to her like a blur. Its face was suddenly in front of her leering and snarling. It came too close for Tigress to handle and her instinct to attack kicked in and she clawed at the 2 red glowing eyes. As the hyena backed away gave a mixture of a scream and howl in agony, something picked Tigress up by the scruff of her neck and began to run. As she looked back, she saw the hyena seeming to charge after them, only to be tackled by 2 giant figures: one in a gold-threaded robe with a red vine and lotus flower and another in a dark red robe with black bamboo shoots. As the figure in glittering gold continued to fight, the figure in blood red turned to face Tigress._

 _It was a male tiger with her eyes, her stoic leader-like face and bold black stripes that looked like a fire symbol on his forehead. He shouted to not her, but whatever was holding Tigress "TAKE YOUR SISTER SENKO... AND RUN! SENKA CANNOT HAVE HER! SEE TO THAT AT ANY COST!" Tigress saw the male tiger was now getting farther and farther away from her and he wasn't even moving except for turning around to aid the gold figure with fighting the hyena. Tigress realised that whatever was holding her, this "Senko", was running away. All Tigress could do and not even know why she was doing it for, was let out a baby-sounding "AAH!"_

* * *

Tigress was paralyzed by the images going through her head. The hyena's eyes seemed to have put in a trance so deep, she didn't realise that Nyrocah was slowly walking to her on all 4's, baring her sharp smiling teeth that were ready to bite. She then went into a run and leaped at her with a roar, but Tigress still didn't move out of the way.

Then, something pushed Nyrocah from the side into a boulder while Tigress was still immobile. It was Gucho, who had managed to recover just in time. She was on all 4 legs and with her now ferocious face, began roaring at Nyrocah with each roar seeming to push her back into the boulder. Finally, Nyrocah couldn't take it. She knew the old cat's technique better than any other hyena and knew that staying was suicide and so out of the shame of defeat, Nyrocah ran as fast as her bony legs would take her until she was out of sight.

"Tigress?" said a voice that seemed muffled to Tigress as she continued to stare into thin air.

"Tigress!" it came again, this time as she was being shaken by the shoulder. She then blinked a few times and gasped before seeing the shaker and the voice were both Teo. His ice blue eyes were gazing into hers with concern "You alright? What happened?"

Tigress continued to breathe before saying after a long thoughtful pause "I-... I don't... I don't know."

Teo then started pushing her to run "Come on." She then started running with him still confused on what she had just saw, but it was almost as if she and Nyrocah had met a long long time ago.

They continued running until they met with Chi-Chi, who was running back to them "Teo, you all right? When you turned back, I-."

"It's her you should be more concerned about. She just froze up and almost got killed... again." Teo said in what sounded like an annoyed voice. Did he actually hate rescuing her? Most guys would feel heroic for saving a damsel in distress and go as far as to brag about it to their friends, so why didn't he? As the stoic Kung Fu master thought on it, Chi-Chi looked at Tigress with concern. It was a similar look that Viper would give in battle if someone got hurt. "You alright?"

"I am now, but... I don't know how that happened." Tigress said with her perception of reality seeming to spin out of control. She heard someone say "Perhaps you should take Gucho's advice and go home and rest." Tigress nodded to that given advice before passing out after trying to take one step. All she heard was before blacking out was a terrified voice screaming her name.

* * *

Elsewhere in a deeper part of the bamboo forest just at the wall that closed off the Valley of Peace from the Valley of the Scorpion, there were hundreds of black tents pitched out and thousands of hyenas fighting each other in some way. Some practised attacking while others practised defending and the rest parctised evading. All but 3 hyenas were participating in these sparring matches. They were the 3 hyenas who attacked Master Tigress to the point where they got carried away and seemed to have developed a blood lust because they were given strict orders to not fatally attack any of the Kung Fu masters as Senka knew they couldn't handle their savage yet superior fighting style. When Senka heard of this defiance, she called the trio forth and dismissed the other 7. Heilang heard of it too and watched as Senka spoke to them "So let me get this straight." Senka said to the hyena trio "I specifically asked you to not attack them fatally, especially Master Tigress, and to not attract the attention of Gucho and her students... and you 3 disobeyed me on every one of those terms?!"

Her voice was high-pitched and unforgiving. She came closer to them with her claws coming out on her her right paw. They gleamed the same silver as the pattern on her cloak and vest did. The hyena trio looked as if they were about to run, but they remained standing still as bullets of sweat shot out from almost every angle of their dark grey heads. Senka was 5 feet away from them, but they acted as if she was right in front of them with her claws right on their necks, threatening to slash away for their incompetance. She then said "Can any of you give me even _one shread_ of good news?"

"I can." came a croaky voice that didn't escape from the clamped-shut mouths of the 3 hyenas, but instead from the far left, where Heilang saw an elderly white hyena seeming to limp towards them. Senka rushed over as her wobbly legs collapsed and she fell to the grassy floor of the bamboo forest.

"Nyrocah." Senka said in a whisper that sounded so... concerned and caring? Not only that, but hearing that name alerted all the other hyenas in the camp and all combat ceased as they gathered round to see their leader and this elderly hyena. Now, Heilang was interested. Senka had not once spoke like this to him, the Lin Kuei or any of her followers nor show any concern to anyone who had injuries. She clearly had some kind of respect for this singular hyena. In fact, all the hyenas seemed to carry respect for this elderly hyena, though he couldn't work out why. He also found it strange for a tiger to bond with a hyena as he had heard stories as a pup that like wild dogs, wild cats were also enemies of the hyenas and would never make nice with each other. He came towards them slowly and saw that there were 5 little claws marks running entirely across Nyrocah's eyelids. When she opened them a little, he saw the glowing red in her clouded eyes. She tried to speak, but then lay back down from some apparant pain. Senka quickly said "Save your strength. Speak when you can."

Finally, Nyrocah was able to stand up when Senka motioned the 3 incompetant followers to hold her up by her upper arms and act as support beams for her. 2 hyenas were on her right and the other was on her left. Senka asked "What happened?"

"Gucho somehow sensed I was near; I had to attack or the Kung Fu warriors she was with would've gotten suspicious about a hyena just running away without fighting them." Nyrocah said, seeming to slowly breathe in and out after every few words she had spoke. Senka growled at the mention of Gucho.

"But." Nyrocah said during Senka's mid-growling "The good news I have... it was **her**."

Senka stopped growling. Her ice blue eyes grew in size "You're 100% positive it was her?"

Nyrocah grabbed Senka's vest near the chest and pulled the tigress close to her. Senka did not resist or try to tear herself out of the hyena's grip "I have slain so many enemies as the former hyena queen of this clan that I can't even remember who they were... but I will _**never**_ forget the scent of the innocent defenseless tiger cub who did THIS TO ME!" Nyrocah said releasing Senka's vest and pointing to her eyelids before coughing a bit. The hyenas would've taken her away to rest properly if she didn't raise a shaky paw signalling them not to. She spoke again, this time directly to Senka "The point I'm making is that story that **prawn** in Japan told us wasn't wrong... the so-called **Tiger Warrior** he spoke of is not only a **joke,** but the same week old cub we thought died a long long time ago."

Senka turned away. Heilang saw a smile on her face. He was kinda glad her eyes weren't red like Nyrocah's or she would've probably scared his closed eye open. She stayed like that as Nyrocah's new support beams were about to take her to rest until the elderly hyena said "One more thing Senka, I only need 2 support beams, not 3."

"Done." Senka said remaining still as she swiftly brought her right paw with 5 razor-tipped claws diagonally up across the neck of the hyena on Nyrocah's left. He didn't have time to gasp as he fell. The other 2 didn't even flinch; the only movement made was one of the hyenas on Nyrocah's right taking over the role of the deceased one and then, Nyrocah was led away. As the hyenas scattered as if they were leaving school, Hei Lang and the Lin Kuei gathered in shock around the dead hyena who didn't even notice death 5 feet in front of him. They had killed before, but the deaths they caused had reason; this reason didn't have to end in death. Senka could've just assigned one of them to something else.

"Don't..." came a voice that made them turn to face the white tigress with fresh red blood flowing down from the tips of her paw "... tell me that death shocks the Lin Kuei."

Heilang suddenly toughened up his face as he came in front of his pack "We've killed before, but we had reason to kill."

"Didn't you hear Nyrocah? She only needed 2 support beams." Senka said in a tone that could've been used to talk about how her day had gone if she had gone to the market. As she stared at the blood flowing from the neck of her unfortunate victim, the wolves nearest to her quietly took a few steps back. If she noticied, she didn't object to their actions. She then looked to Heilang "If these Kung Fu warriors are as great as I have heard them to be, then I can't afford any weak links or any disobedience. Look where it got everyone else who fought them; it got them in a little dark place called **Chorh Gom Prison**."

The wolves both did and didn't understood how the hyenas didn't flinch whenever Senka spoke; her voice was cold and calculating and unmerciful. They were driven to perfection out of the fear the white tigress struck into their already darkened hearts. As she walked away, they saw that even the way she moved was filled with power and they wondered what Master Tigress could've done to Senka to conjure up so much wrath that she would kill her own followers for petty reasons to see her dead. Only their leader Heilang knew; apparantly, Tigress had a brother that even she didn't know about, but Senka somehow did. The only thing all the Lin Kuei were certain about was that when the 2 tigresses meet, Master Tigress is a dead cat.


	5. A Cat Chat with Chi-Chi

_All Tigress saw was the bold face of a male tiger shouting in a background of burning houses and trees mixed with the shining silver weapons "TAKE YOUR SISTER SENKO..."_

 _She then saw from lying on a floor an orange tiger and a white tiger fighting "...AND RUN!" came the male tiger's proud commanding voice that no one would dare to question._

 _"SENKA CANNOT HAVE HER! SEE TO THAT AT ANY COST!" was what the tiger shouted last as Tigress now saw the white tiger from the fight before standing still, yet getting farther and farther away. Then, it looked with snarling teeth and glowing ice blue eyes at a what looked like a white bundle that Tigress was about to identify before..._

The feeling of panic struck Tigress, causing her to sit up suddenly awake and rapidly breathe in and out. She calmed down when she saw she was in her room at the Jade Palace. She rememebered the visions she saw. There was a male tiger shouting to someone behind her. Someone named Senko. And the male tiger called Tigress... Senko's sister. Shifu's words came to Tigress' mind.

 _ **"Hmm, I remember Po telling me during his time with Lord Shen's former soothsayer, she mentioned that his dreams weren't dreams. Instead, they were memories."**_

If that was indeed a memory she had saw, then that meant... Could that even be possible? Tigress never would've believed she had any siblings. This was the first time she had ever heard of anyone in her enigma of a biological family. She stood up and then realised the pain from the earlier hyena attack was gone. She pressed the area to make sure and it was as if it had never even been injured in the first place. In fact, it even felt brand new. Her head then looked towards her bedroom door as it slid open and in walked a face she had almost forotten about

"Oh good, you're up." Chi-Chi the cheetah said with a bright smile. In her slender paws was a tray and on said tray was a little white bowl, a cloth and some herbal spices, coloured liquids in tiny vials and pink and white flower petals that she guessed were for some kind of medicine.

"Chi-Chi." Tigress stated, wondering why the cheetah was here and also wondered if the other cats they had met on their travels were at the Jade Palace too. She asked "How come you're here?"

Chi-Chi's bright smile dropped a little "Seriously? We saved your life... _twice_ actually, we carried you back here, I've been tending to your injury while you've been unconcious for over an hour and a half and you still don't trust us?"

Tigress found it hard to grasp to the reality that a full hour and half an hour had passed and she had apparantly been left alone in the care of a complete stranger. Her sleep felt shorter than 10 minutes, but though she found the cheetah's argument to be well thought out and true to every word, she stuck to her firm belief on trust "Trust is something that has to be earned."

Chi-Chi then look dumbfounded "Again, we've done a lot of life saving mainly for you." As she shook her small head to herself, Tigress then realised something that Chi-Chi had said earlier "Wait, what do you mean I was carried back here?!"

Chi-Chi smiled at Tigress' reaction to that as she set down her medicine tray and sat herself down on the floor "My handsome boyfriend Teo carried you back here on his own. Leo and his sister and Faye all offered to help, but he refused to stop despite that he was clearly tired and out of breath. It's because he **personally** knows how fatal hyena atacks are."

Tigress would normally have been focused on how strange she thought it was for someone to publicly describe their boyfriend as handsome, but she instead decided to let that slide and slowly walked to her bed and sat down on it. She then turned her stern face to Chi-Chi and asked "Teo was attacked by a hyena in a similar circumstance to me?"

Tigress noticed how quickly the cheetah's face sank from whatever joy she previously had within her and what rose back up in that joy's place was worry as Chi-Chi recalled one of her most terrifying memories "Yeah; you see, me and him and our clowder are on the run from the hyena clans. They're the sworn enemies of all cats and they want us all dead. In one encounter with them, Teo took on too many hyenas by himself and ended up badly bitten in his chest and back. If I didn't have the medical training I had in my childhood, I might not have been able to have saved him."

After letting that fact sink in and thinking it over, Tigress said with a less stern face "I didn't know that, I'm sorry to hear that; it must've been hard for you to see him like that."

Chi-Chi then added "Well, as depressing as that memory is, something good did come out of it; I was finally able to face my biggest fear of telling him that I loved him."

Hearing that was a surprise for Tigress. She looked to Chi-Chi who was now crushing up some petals in a little bowl and adding different coloured liquids to it "I know it sounds shocking, but it's not when you live the life we used to live as cubs."

Chi-Chi picked up the bowl and the white cloth on the tray. Tigress then tensed as she stood up and came over to her. She asked while inching away a little on her bed "What are you doing?"

"I know you don't trust me and I'll respect that, but this needs to be applied to where the hyenas attacked you. It numbs the pain and will lessen the chances of you blacking out again."

"I don't feel any pain." Tigress said with certainty, though Chi-Chi wasn't convinced. After letting out a sigh, she explained "That's what everyone says and they eventually black out and don't even realise they're blacking out."

Her argument was having some effect, but Tigress was still unwilling to co-operate. At points like this, Chi-Chi didn't care if her patients were okay with her nursing them the way she planned too and just began taking command by explaining what the treatment would cause "This is gonna sting a little as I apply it, so just focus on me talking and it'll hurt less."

Tigress wanted to fight back to stop Chi-Chi's intentions as she undid her vest for her and pulled up its left side, but there was something about her that made her seem trustworthy as she talked "When I was cub, I felt very excluded from other cheetahs because while every other cheetah has around 4 or 5 siblings, I was an only child."

Tigress was stunned learning that having around 5 siblings was a norm for cheetahs and that Chi-Chi was making it seem like she wanted that many siblings. Tigress didn't think she could handle that many siblings herself as Chi-Chi continued "It was moments like that where I felt like a dissappointent to my family... but then, I felt happy when I first met Teo. We were 6 and he noticed how sad I felt. We talked and he helped me realise that I wasn't a dissapointment."

Tigress didn't even realise that Chi-Chi had placed the medicine-soaked cloth on to the minor bruises on her chest or even notice the continued dabbing. She did flinch a little, but was was completely under Chi-Chi's spell of storytelling.

"But, then I started to feel something to Teo and realised I was falling for him. Most are thrilled for having that feeling especially when they know they've fallen for the right person who's a good guy, not me; our intermarriage laws are so prohibiting that we can't marry a cat who is a different species to us. I already felt like dissapointment to my parents; I wasn't going to shame them further by breaking the laws of our people."

Tigress pieced together what she was saying "So, he's a tiger and you're a cheetah and that's why you can't be with him..." And then, something else came to realisation "... Gucho wanting you to marry isn't just something you're pushing off as a joke; you actually _do_ want to marry Teo, but your laws from home forbid it.

"Unfortunately so... okay, we're done." Chi-Chi said stepping up and backing away. Tigress then snapped out of the storytelling trance and couldn't believe she had actually allowed a complete stranger to nurse her when she was at probably the most vulnerable she had ever been in her life.

"Hey." Chi-Chi suddenly said "There is something I wanna ask you and then I won't ask about anything else about you; do you by any chance know about your parent's ancestry?"

After Tigress' eyes grew in size and her face went blank with confusion, Chi-Chi explained "I-I know it's a strange question to ask, but it's just that I have this theory that if your parents are strong-blooded, then your chances of surviving injuries considered fatal are higher."

Tigress didn't hear what Chi-Chi said after that "Parents Ancestry", but when her jaw finally stayed up for good, Tigress supposed her deal wasn't too unfortunate though it did bring sadness to her mind as she said "I don't know my parents... they... left me as a cub out on the doorstep of an orphanage."

Chi-Chi's happy face seemed to drop for the first time since she first came into Tigress' room. Though it was showing regret to asking her previous question, there was another emotion on the cheetah's face, almost like she was working out a puzzle which was strange as Tigress couldn't see any puzzle in here that she could need to be working out.

"Oh... a... I'm sorry to hear that; that's really sad."

After a while, tension was settling in the room, so Chi-Chi decided to leave "Um, you're okay to leave when you're ready. I'm gonna head to the training courtyard; that's where your friends said they'd meet after returning the stolen goods back to their owners." She gathered her medical equipment and was stepping out of the room until Tigress said "Thank you."

Chi-Chi turned around with her smile fully grown back. She knew Tigress wanted to say more and so she followed with "I appreciate you treating my injury."

"Thank you too." She said very chippery.

"What for?" Tigress asked as she stood up to exit the room with Chi-Chi, who answered with "For having this Cat Chat with Chi-Chi."

As Tigress looked at her with a half sour expression, Chi-Chi said as they both walked to the training courtyard "And yes, that is what my friends refer to that as."


	6. The Beginning of the Unravelling

As Tigress and Chi-Chi were walking up towards the training courtyard, they saw from almost half way to their chosen destination Crane flying in the sky and he appeared to be deflecting and avoiding various objects ranging from bamboo spears and weighted nets to pointed balls and large barrels. Tigress recognised this as one of the training exercises to being prepared for anything that comes into one's path. They saw Crane's head turn towards them, his voice was distinctly heard before he flew towards the ground below him. Tigress guessed he had alerted the others of her recovery and said to Chi-Chi "We should hurry to the top to save time."

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah..." Chi-Chi continued to say as she stood still on a step 3 steps below where Tigress was. She continued to say the word until Tigress stopped and turned to face her.

"... woah, woah... woah. Did I honestly hear you say that _**we**_ should hurry?" Chi-Chi asked without even trying to hide the childish tone she was using. Tigress was stunned at this change of behaviour as she seemed rather mature before and she was now acting like those 2 lion siblings Leo and Leah.

"I think you mean _**you**_ should hurry to the top; I've just been walking at this pace because I thought you wanted to take it steady. I mean... I could get there right now if I wanted too even if I gave you a head start."

"There is no possible way you could get to the top that fast." Tigress said after thinking over what Chi-Chi had said and then quickly going over the science in her head. "Wanna bet?" Chi-Chi asked. "Tell ya what; I'm gonna give you a 10 second head start to get to the top and I bet I'll still get there before you."

"Why would you make a bet like that and what makes you think I'll accept something that stupid and childish?"

"Because of what will happen to the winner of course; if you win, I'll convince my clowder that we should leave the Valley of Peace and never come back... however if I win and I _totally will_ , **you** have to agree to be more welcoming to us. Sound fair?"

Tigress could see that Chi-Chi wouldn't give up until she got her way, so she decided that going along with the cheetah's bet would save her from more headaches as well as giving Tigress the opportunity to have them leave for good. They did save her life, but the immaturity that most of them showed was similar to Po and his was too much for Tigress to handle and since he couldn't go, Chi-Chi and her clowder would have to go. She answered "Very well then." and extended her paw to shake on their deal. Chi-Chi just smiled and Tigress saw her pupils go from looking at Tigress' face to her paw and back and forth at least 3 times before she finally said "Okay." and shook paws with her.

"Okay, I'll count outloud to 10 and that's when I'll set off. **GO!** "

Tigress immediately started running on her 4 paws fueled by the determination to prove to Chi-Chi that she was wrong. She heard her loud counting as she got closer and closer to her target and at the mention of "9", Tigress was 30 steps away from the gate. She saw it was open and in the courtyard was Po, the Furious 5 (minus her) and Chi-Chi's clowder. After hearing "10", Tigress didn't have time to react to the giant cloud of dust that formed in front of her and blew into her face. This caused her to stop and cough as some of the dust went up her tiny nostrils. As the dust cleared, Tigress was able to breathe. Until she saw the impossible and her jaw closed instantly as what she saw was Chi-Chi grinning with crossed arms in the palace courtyard. Tigress looked down to see her left foot 3 inches from entering the courtyard and so Tigress stepped in full of the shame of losing the bet despite her confidence and determination.

Chi-Chi approached her still grinning and still with crossed arms and said "I win."

Tigress looked to her eyes and stated "Congratulations" as calm as she could without sounding envious of her speed. Chi-Chi then said "Here's some advice; if a cheetah challenges you to a race, decline... it's in our blood to be faster than anything _**and**_ anyone."

"Thank you for the advice." Tigress said before walking over to Shifu.

"Master." she said once reaching him and giving a respectful bow to him.

"Tigress, it is good to see you have recovered and-"

"TIGRESS!" Po interrupted by running up to Tigress with his arms out and hugging her tightly around her neck. She growled slightly as it felt her air waves were being cut off by what she believed to be too much flab in his arms and was thankful it didn't last long as Po let go and backed off. He then began to babble on about thinking she was dead and completely ignoring her breathing in and out.

"I THINK that is quite enough rambling panda." came Gucho's voice as she walked past him and over to Tigress. Po pulled a sulky face at being silenced by someone who was in some ways similar to Shifu. Tigress then asked "What have I missed?"

"Nothing new really; we've informed Master Shifu of..." Gucho paused and turned her head to Faye, whose head now looked down to the ground beneath her full of shame as Gucho continued "...Faye's unfortunate connection to Tai Lung."

Tigress felt smypathy for Faye as she guessed that hearing her connection to the brother she had never met once in her life was "unfortunate" in the eyes of practically anyone. Tigress wondered, if what she saw in her dreams was true, if her own brother named Senko would be viewed as an unfortunate relative to have. For now, she would focus on one thing at a time which would start with why this clowder was in the Valley of Peace and end hopefully with Tigress asking them if they knew a tiger named Senko.

"But what you don't know, and deserve to know, is why Tai Lung was brought here to the Jade Palace as a cub." Gucho said. The lion siblings Leo and Leah then began to explain how before, they were passing with an evasive lesson so the Kung Fu masters would be more prepared against the hyenas should they return, but the Kung fu masters, mainly Shifu, weren't listening and had stiffened after hearing Gucho speak of Tai Lung's origins as not many knew this about the snow leopard. His origin was kept a secret as although he had never admitted this aloud, Shifu blamed himself for Tai Lung nearly destroying the Valley of Peace as it was he who had took him in, he who trained him in the art of Kung Fu, he who told Tai Lung that he would be the Dragon Warrior. This lead to Shifu's fear of what the Valley's citizens would do if they learned the full truth. He became very defensive, almost furious, and asked while pointing his cane at the elderly cat "No one outside the Jade Palace is aware of that... how is it that you know about this?!"

After hearing their master's words, the Furious 5 hardened their facial expression and got into their defensive stances. Po followed after realising that was what they were apparantly supposed to do when a well-kept secret was revealed by a stranger. But no amount of strength or posture could prepare them for what Gucho said next looking right into Shifu's eyes "Because I was the one who brought Tai Lung here and left him on your doorstep."


End file.
